


Inmortalium, Amet

by xwannaflyx



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, M/M, but the deal instead returns common sense?, in which Sasuke makes a deal for power, the heartless fairy tale rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 04:55:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19434364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xwannaflyx/pseuds/xwannaflyx
Summary: “Motherfucker!” Naruto swore, as eloquent as always. He whipped around, shoulder still heaving with anger and wisps of red trailing across his skin.Sakura’s eyes reflected the same heartbreak in Naruto's voice. “What did he do to you?” she whispered one shaking hand covering her mouth as she stared at Sasuke, a horrified but spellbound interest in her eyes.Sasuke looked at his old time friends for a long time before almost seeming to shrug. “He did as he promised,” he said easily, “he made me stronger.” His voice was strangely calm and agreeable. For all that the corners of his mouth lifted, his eyes looked as dead as Thanatos’ realm.





	Inmortalium, Amet

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Naruto Magic Week 2019 Prompt: Forgotten Magic
> 
> Unfortunately/fortunately got a little to inspired but also couldn't finish on time so here it goes. 
> 
> Cheers to chabbit for helping me think of a vaguely acceptable title

“Well this is quite nostalgic.” Sasuke’s voice was as dry as a desert and twice as wry. 

“You fucking asshole!” Naruto yelled, attempting to jump out of Sakura’s very forceful grip to punch him in the face. “You fucking—”

Sakura, with an impatient scowl on her face, rattled Naruto around until he quieted, looking rather sick. “What are you doing here,” she demanded, switching grips so that her dominant hand was free and glowing with power. 

Sasuke looked at the two for a frozen moment before beginning to disrobe. “Circe’s box, Sasuke,” Naruto squawked, throwing a hand in front of his eyes and making vaguely choked noises of confusion. “What are you doing?”

Sakura, ever practical, kept her eyes fixed on Sasuke, the hum of energy in the air growing louder. “I’m surrendering,” Sasuke replied easily, shrugging out of his pants to (thankfully) show he was wearing undergarments. “I have a bunch of spells laced into the fabric of my clothing, so..” he trailed off and gestured to the pile of his robes on the ground. “Disrobing.”

“Nothing in your underwear?” Sakura asked dryly, releasing Naruto to reach into her pouch for some restrainment seals. 

Sasuke raised an eyebrow then stuck both his thumbs in the waistband of his underwear.

“No! She’s joking!” Naruto screeched, snatching one of the seals from Sakura, charging it with power, and blindly throwing it at Sasuke. Sasuke was immediately frozen, expression rather bemused. 

With a long sigh, Sakura threw Naruto a rather annoyed glare as she stepped towards him. “You really should have at least let him get his thumbs out,” she remarked as she slapped a second energy seal on him before picking him up and slinging him over her shoulder. 

“He’s the stupid nudist,” Naruto grumbling, cheeks still red. Sakura ignored her teammate as she began setting up a portal spell. Sulking, Naruto began to pick up Sasuke’s shed robes and weapons, mumbling to himself about what a meanie Sakura was. 

-x-

Naruto had stood, arms crossed and indications of an impressive sulk written all over his face, as Sakura calmly passed the still mostly naked and paralyzed Sasuke to Kakashi and the guards. “He surrendered,” Sakura explained. Kakashi’s eye slipped from the two seals slapped on his skin to the thumbs in the waistband and stared back at his former students. “He did it himself,” Sakura immediately protested, frowning defensively. 

With a soft sigh and roll of his eye, Kakashi gestured for the guards to deposit Sasuke into the seal room before summoning Tsunade up on the communications mirror. “Someone better be dying,” Tsunade snarled, eyes fixed on something outside of the mirror’s range. 

“Sasuke has apparently surrendered himself to the School’s mercies.” 

Tsunade’s gaze immediately snapped up. With a slightly unfocused frown, she waved a dismissal at the mirror. Kakashi stared at the murky glass for a long moment before sighing again and turning back to the seal room. 

“He came back after joining with Orochimaru?” Tsunade demanded, blowing into the room with as much energy as she always had and with a frown fixed on her face. “Has he said anything?”

“Sakura paralyzed him with what I suspect are three experimental seals. I’m not sure his body remembers completely how to breath,” Kakashi said dryly, quite aware of his former students vindictive streak and how it mixed with Tsunade’s tutlege. 

Tsunade smirked, smug pride shining through. “Well, let’s go see what this kid wants,” she said finally, not waiting for Kakashi before she stepped through the portal leading for the seal rooms. Kakashi followed with a little sigh. 

He found Sasuke, thankfully now clothed, sitting in a seal room, power suppressed from the room’s spells rather than Sakura’s vindictive spellwork. “Well?” Tsunade demanded. “Are you going to explain yourself?”

“Orochimaru said he could make me stronger.” Sasuke was sprawled in his seat, the very picture of indulgent patience, “and after he did whatever he did, I stopped feeling it all.”

Kakashi’s single eye glanced to Tsunade, then back to Sasuke. Both of their brows pinched with worry. “Stopped feeling what?” Kakashi finally asked slowly, eyes carefully scanning Sasuke for any differences. 

Sasuke shrugged. “All of it. The anger, the pain, the sadness. I just stopped feeling all of it.”

Tsunade immediately frowned, her expression becoming stormy. While that did sound like something her former teammate could do, it seemed strange that his execution of such a spell would have such limited consequences and end up with Sasuke returning here. “What do you mean by that?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, as irreverent as always. In a casual movement, he shrugged off the first layer of clothing and turned to Kakashi. “Do you hear that?” he asked, tapping at his chest. 

As Tsunade opened her mouth, ready to demand an answer, Kakashi, from what could be seen around his mask, paled. “What did you do,” he asked quietly, his eye closing. Sasuke, yet another failure to add to his list. 

“What?” Tsunade demanded, unhappy with being out of the know. 

Kakashi’s expression was bleak. “There’s nothing there, Lady Tsunade,” he said quietly. “This boy has no heartbeat.” When Tsunade turned her rather horrified gaze on Sasuke, he merely shrugged. Offering her a strangely empty smile. 

“Are you going to be a threat to the students,” she asked faintly, ignoring the way that Kakashi continued to stare at his former protege. 

“No,” Sasuke said easily. “But you may wish to warn some people to lessen the chance of alarm.”

She stared at the hollow child for a long while, then, with a wave of her hand, dismissed all the power thrumming through the room. “Then you’re free to go. Kakashi will escort you to the Health Wing for an initial check up. Shizune will do it,” she added, turning to Kakashi with a hard stare. 

Kakashi looked at her in silence, a question in his eye. When she failed to answer, he sighed and gestured for Sasuke to follow him as they stepped out of the room. 

Tsunade stared at the chair that had held Sasuke and slowly covered her eyes. Power and emotionlessness in exchange for a heart. The ability to be cold and unfeeling, an ability that had been pursued by ancient spellcasters. Some said that the heart had been cut out willing. Some said that it was the gods’ punishment for mortal audacity. Either way, no one spoke of a cure and everyone worked to eradicate them from the land. Tsunade sighed, hand dropping from her face. This was going to devastate the two kids, she just knew it. 

-x-

Somehow, the explanation was going even worse than Kakashi had feared it would. He shifted his way slightly to block Naruto and Sakura’s pathway to the exit and kept a wary eye on Sasuke as well. Although Tsunade clearly was fine with him walking around, Kakashi, despite all fondness he held for his former student, had never seen things end well when the other individual had that look in their eyes. 

“Mother _ fucker _ !” Naruto swore, as eloquent as always. He whipped around, shoulder still heaving with anger and wisps of red trailing across his skin. 

Sakura’s eyes reflected the same heartbreak in Naruto's voice. “What did he do to you?” she whispered one shaking hand covering her mouth as she stared at Sasuke, a horrified but spellbound interest in her eyes. 

Sasuke looked at his old time friends for a long time before almost seeming to shrug. “He did as he promised,” he said easily, “he made me stronger.” His voice was strangely calm and agreeable. For all that the corners of his mouth lifted, his eyes looked as dead as Thanatos’ realm. 

“Then why not go after Itachi, if he made you so strong?” Naruto spat, old anger and hurt mixing into a bitter weight in his chest. 

Sasuke shrugged, strangely cavalier about something that had always been a rather delicate topic. “It didn’t seem worth it,” he said easily, leaning against the wall and eyeing his former teammates with something similar to interest. “The cost and benefit analysis didn’t really weigh out in favor of that harebrained plan.”

Naruto blinked, clearly taken aback. “It isn’t like we haven’t been saying that for like, years,” Sakura mumbled to herself, unable to help the snark. Sasuke gave her an easy smirk. Sakura felt a flash of aching longing; she remembered the years that Sasuke, Naruto, and she had spent together, the long years of arguing and hurt, but unmistakable comradery. She wished she could trust Sasuke’s expression but there was something a little too dead about his eyes. She shuddered slightly; they reminded her too much of the vacant eyes of the dead, or the blankness of warrior spellcasters that lost too much. 

“Does that mean you’re staying?” Naruto suddenly asked, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. 

Sasuke blinked, turning his gaze to Naruto. There was something defensive in Naruto’s posture, the way his shoulders hunched and his chest was turned away. “I chose to come back,” Sasuke said, the simple words carrying the weight of something unnamed but heavy. “I’m here.”

Naruto eyes flashed from the floor to Sasuke then to the door. Without another word, he shouldered past Kakashi and left. Sakura watched her teammate leave and simply sighed, rubbing her face. 

“I honestly think that could have gone worse,” Sasuke suddenly pointed out, offering Kakashi and Sakura a little quirk of his lip. Sakura groaned loudly, fully burying her face in her hands. Without another word, she too left. 

Sasuke turned his gaze on the only former Team 7 left standing in room. “Please stop talking,” Kakashi requested politely, his eyes closed and his hands rubbing his temple. “For something that is apparently now emotionless, you certain inspire a lot of emotions in a lot of people.”

“It’s a gift,” Sasuke replied easily, leaning more heavily against the wall, almost smugness on his features. 

With a quiet sigh, Kakashi turned his gaze skyward and sent a quick prayer up to the gods for patience. 

-x-

“They called them the Empty,” Sai said suddenly, appearing over Sakura’s shoulder and nearly giving them all a heart attack. “Lord Danzo--” he paused with a commiserating frown on his usually smooth features, “former Lord Danzo was always fascinated with the mythology.”

Sakura and Naruto both flinched guiltily at getting caught investigating then grimaced when they remembered their first meeting with Sai. The strange emptiness of his smile and the lack of reaction in his eyes has been alarming to say the least. However, he had at least had a heartbeat in his chest.

“The empty,” Sakura said slowly, frowning in remembrance. “I've read about them,” she exclaimed, springing up and running back to the shelves to the squawks of indignation from the shelves. “They talk about them in fairy tales,” Sakura said a little sheepishly, thumping the old book on the desk and trying to wave away the library fairy that was still screeching admonishments for running and dropping a book. The fairy finally gave up for loss and she flipped open the book, eyes scanning through the words. “Yes! They...” she paused eyes flitting to Naruto with a little grimace. “They're not often the good guys,” she finally said, shoulders slumping.

“What about a cure?” Naruto demanded, scrambling over the table to join Sakura and also scan the book. The library fairy firmly yanked a strand of his hair, screeching slurs against his entire family bloodline. “Sorry! Sorry!” Naruto apologized quickly, jerking his head away. “A cure, Sakura,” he demanded, eyes still on the book.

Sakura’s lips pressed together, discomfort clear on her features. “The only cure is death,” Sai said easily, giving them one of his strange eye smiles.

Naruto’s limp hands dropped the book as Sakura winced. The three soon found themselves chased out of the library by a cloud of irate library fairies, the fairy tale tome firmly clasped to Sakura’s chest as she booked it out of the library. 

-x-

Naruto was pacing back and forth across the living room floor when Sasuke stopped him by standing directly in his path. “What?” Naruto snarled, more demand than question.

“I can’t tell if you’re angry at me or not,” Sasuke said slowly, eyes tracing Naruto’s features, “but I would really prefer to be certain considering that we are now living together.” He paused and watched Naruto flush red, blue eyes quickly dropping to the ground. “And you’re the one that invited me. Technically.”

“It’s just to keep an eye on you,” Naruto blustered, shoving ineffectively at Sasuke’s shoulder. Sasuke allowed himself a slight sway but stayed firmly in Naruto’s path. “And I’m not really that mad,” he added quietly. His shoulders slumped as his eyes scanned Sasuke’s still expression. “And it doesn’t matter to you anyway, does it.”

There was the slightest hint of a frown on Sasuke’s face. “I don’t like to cause unintended harm,” he said slowly, almost as if he was feeling out the fit of the words even as he spoke them. “So if I’m upsetting you by being here, then I could find somewhere else to be.”

“You never cared about hurting people before,” Naruto grumbled, arms crossing tightly over his chest.

There was a faintly contemplative expression on Sasuke’s face as he hummed, seeming to consider his answer. “I never cared before,” he agreed finally, shrugging. “And now I don’t care at all.” He tracked the way Naruto flinched at the words but continued, “But seeing as it is no difference to me, why not make the effort to prevent harm that is not deliberate? Seems negligent to commit harm that I didn’t mean to.”

Naruto considered the words for a long moment, avoiding Sasuke’s piercing stare. “That’s a weird way to look at it,” he finally mumbled, shoulder relaxing slightly. “But you were always a weirdo anyway.”

Sasuke’s expression gentled slightly; the way his shoulders loosened and posture softened was a little too noticeable to be natural. “So if I’m upsetting you...” he said slowly, raising his eyebrows.

“No,” Naruto mumbled, He sighed, shoulders tensing and relaxing in a single movement. “It isn’t you. I just...” he trailed off, glancing at Sasuke’s still face before turning away again. “I just keep expecting you to be a certain way that you’re not anymore and that’s my fault. I’ll deal with it until we find a cure,” he mumbled, his arms wrapping around his torso. 

There was an unspoken if that Sasuke suppressed the urge to ask about; he had just said he wouldn’t cause unintended harm and judging from Naruto’s posture, a cure wasn’t really on the table for discussion. “Then I have something for you,” Sasuke said slowly, reaching into the depths of his robe.

“You better not be stripping again,” Naruto said, hands rising defensively. 

Shaking his head, Sasuke withdrew a small pendant almost the size of his thumb, shaped into the infamous uchiwa of the Uchiha family. “Hand,” he demanded, Naruto’s hand immediately rising out of habit more than anything else. Sasuke dropped the pendant into Naruto’s hand, slipping his hand back into his pocket once the transaction was done. 

Nose wrinkling, Naruto glared up at Sasuke, “Oi,” he started warningly, about to go off on a lecture about bribery that wouldn’t work because the gift was shitty.

“That’s mine,” Sasuke interrupted, eyes still fixed on this little fan. As Naruto opened his mouth to argue again, Sasuke continued, “As in, that’s my heart. Orochimaru locked the magical essence of it in there.”

Squawking, Naruto fumbled the pendant, barely catching it before it dropped and glaring at Sasuke incredulously. “What am I supposed to do with it?” he squeaked. 

Sasuke shrugged. “If you damage it heavily, I’ll die. Figured it would be useful for you considering you’re supposed to be watching me.”

Naruto squeaked, the noise embarrassing high pitched. His hands cupped protectively around the pendant, staring at Sasuke blankly. “You’ll die?” he asked, voice cracking. He swallowed as Sasuke nodded, “Don’t you care?” he asked quietly, blue eyes darkening with emotion.

“I don’t feel fear anymore,” Sasuke said with yet another shrug. He looked from the pendant to Naruto, eyes sharper than usual. “I’m sure you’ll do what’s right with it,” he finally said. With that, he turned around, preparing to head to bed. 

“I’ll keep it safe, Sasuke,” Naruto said suddenly, his voice ringing with the strange power of a vow. “Until we find a cure, I’ll keep it safe. I swear it.”

“Don’t particularly go out of your way for it,” Sasuke replied dryly, waving a hand carelessly. The bedroom door closed soundlessly behind him. 

Naruto carefully cradled the little pendant closer to himself. If he focused very very closely, he could almost feel a strange pulsing in the metal, almost like a heartbeat that was trying to come out. 

-x-

Several months into their research for a cure, Naruto was burying himself in his bedroom and refusing to interact with anyway and Sakura had hit a breaking point. “The only textbook I can find discussing this bullshit is  _ fairy tales _ , Sasuke!” Sakura yelled, a demand and a confession all wrapped up in one frustrated sentence. “I can prevent pestilence and delay aging and stop  _ death _ , but I don't know how to bring back your heart!”

“Did I ever really have one?” Sasuke asked, pure dark amusement in his tone.

The hint of emotion almost seemed to make her madder. “This is fucking serious,” she yelled back, her cheeks turning the same color as her hair, and wisps of power smoking off of her in her agitation. “We are all half killing ourselves to put you back together!” 

“Sakura,” Sasuke interrupted, the look in his eyes calm, if a little careful. “Did you ever consider that maybe it was better for my past self to die?” he pointed out, almost gentle. The smile he offered her was all empty reassurance and dead eyes. “If I was the sort of trash that pelted off without a plan to become a traitor, is it really worth saving that sort of heart?”

“YES!” Sakura shouted like a condemnation. “Yes, it is, because this is  _ nothing  _ like you and it kills us to see you like this!” She gestured angrily at the way Sasuke lounged, his clothing comfortable and baggy and his posture the relaxed danger of a predator. 

“You mean it kills Naruto,” Sasuke pointed out slowly, a dangerously calculating glint in his eyes. 

Sakura froze, her eyes flashing with power before she seemed to come to a decision. Her shoulders slumped then she sighed. “In some ways,” she admitted quietly, her expression achingly tired and much older than it should be. Her eyes met his like a challenge, “you're right, Sasuke,” she agreed, one shoulder rising in half rueful capitulation. “In some ways, you're better this way.” As his mouth opened, she gave him a sharp edged glare, “But it kills Naruto to see you like this, and it kills him to think that he might be...” She sighed, rubbing tired hands over even more tired eyes, “forcing you. Or taking advantage of your vulnerability.”

“He isn't,” Sasuke said, his eyes flashing with almost emotion before fading.

Sakura snorted. “Sasuke. I doubt very much that anyone could force you to do anything  _ ever  _ really, especially with your current lack of morality or empathy.” 

“Did I ever really possess either of those things?” he joked, a sly look in his eyes. 

Sakura met Sasuke’s gaze, her eyes shining with the same danger. “No,” she agreed, gracefully crossing her legs with a predatory edge to her smile. “That was never really on the cards.” After a long stare, her smile almost softened, something fond returning to her gaze. “But you still cared,” she added, looking at the cool depths of his eyes. 

There was a pause as Sasuke assessed her. “I don’t care anymore,” he finally said with a shrug, slumping further into the wall in faux casualness. “But I’m choosing to stay like this. Does that count for anything?”

Sakura’s smile was a little broken and a lot gentle, “Yes, Sasuke,” she agreed, trying to push the memory of Naruto’s desperation and ragged tears and nightmares from her mind. (“He was my Almost and now he’s my Lost and he doesn’t even  _ care _ ,” Naruto had screamed, because sometimes the only thing that stopped him from breaking down was getting angry. “How I am supposed to be okay with that?”) “It does.”

-x-

It’s been six months, three week, two days, four hours, and seven (swiftly approaching eight) minutes since Sasuke had returned and Naruto sometimes still felt like he had lost his best friend. Sasuke, on the other hand, had been watching Naruto run himself ragged looking for a cure that didn’t exist for a condition that almost no one had heard of before. Enough was enough. 

“I know I can’t love you,” Sasuke said, almost gentle, “but I chose you. Can't that be enough?” His grip carefully flexed against Naruto's wrist, always so weirdly careful about holding too tight and causing unintended harm, and Naruto can almost felt the exact second that his heart shatters yet again. “I choose you.”

He swallowed in a slow breath of air, keeping his gaze turned away from that strangely exposing dark gaze. “This isn’t about me, Sasuke,” Naruto finally said, barely managing to keep his voice from shaking and trying to ignore the burn of tears in his eyes. “It’s your life. It’s your  _ heart _ .”

“I'm fine,” Sasuke said easily. Too easily. The sort of easily that would have never been possible with his best friend and Almost before all this had happened. The sort of easily that echoed emptily and rattled loosely in his mind. “I've been fine.” Naruto ached at the emptiness of the words, at the strange lack of anything in the tone.

“And what about your brother,” he suddenly spat, unable to help the helpless bitter anger that coiled around his lungs and choked his breath. “You were willing to leave Konoha and turn traitor once to achieve that ambition and suddenly you don't care?” Naruto choked back the more accusatory  _ you were willing to leave me _ . 

“I don't not care,” Sasuke replied, his eyes carefully scanning Naruto's tense form. “I just don't feel enough to choose to die for it.”

“You don't feel  _ anything _ !” Naruto shouted, the accusation falling like dead weight in the air. The shout came out like a plea, like a demand. It came like the necessary passage of rain and the rituals for cleanliness, but there was nothing that could be washed away. “You feel absolutely nothing,” he whispered, voice choked.

Sasuke was silent for a long while, his expression blank and assessing. “but I chose,” he finally said. His words were an echo of so many situations before this, situations where they had shouted and screamed at each other, fists and voices running red. “I chose you, Naruto.”

Naruto let out a choked laugh then finally sank to the floor, his hands clutching and pulling at his hair. Sasuke stared at his friend, his Almost, his Chosen, and almost wished he felt enough to please him.


End file.
